Form, Route, and Dosage

Norfloxacin is available as a tablet to take orally.[5] Norfloxacin is only available in the stregnth 400mg.[6] The maximum adult dose is 800mg in a 24 hour period.

Risks

Side Effects

Sometimes patients taking norfloxacin experience side effects. These may include:[7]

nausea

diarrhea

heartburn

dizziness

stomach cramps

headache

weakness

severe diarrhea (watery or bloody stools) that may occur with or without fever and stomach cramps (may occur up to 2 months or more after your treatment)

rash

itching

hives

difficulty breathing or swallowing

swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat

hoarseness

loss of consciousness

fever

blistering or peeling skin

yellowing of the skin or eyes

dark urine

muscle or joint pain

pale skin

shortness of breath

unusual bruising or bleeding

fast, pounding, or irregular heartbeat

fainting

seizures

confusion

hallucinations (seeing things or hearing voices that do not exist)

anxiety

not trusting others or feeling that others want to harm you

restlessness

uncontrollable shaking of a part of the body

pain, numbness, burning, tingling, or weakness in the arms, hands, legs, or feet

Warnings

Patients taking Norfloxacin may have an increased risk of getting tendinitis.[8]

As a Pollutant

Because humans and animals often do not fully metabolize pharmaceuticals in their body, they can excrete drugs or their breakdown products, which may the enter the environment.[9]

In Sewage Sludge

Norfloxacin has been found in sewage sludge. In the Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey, a 2009 test of 84 samples of sewage sludge from around the U.S., the EPA found norfloxacin in 29 samples (35%) in concentrations ranging from 99.3 to 1,290 parts per billion.[10] There are no federal regulations governing how much of this drug may be present in sewage sludge applied to land as fertilizer.